Work Text:
Kat was no idiot, but by God was she Naive. Kat was no idiot. She repeated that to herself the day before tenth grade. When she woke up, she looked around her room, the decals she put up 10 years ago now with… Cathy and Hachi… She hasn’t talked to them since before she moved…
“Don’t think that Kat!” She yelled to herself in her head, “You can talk to them this year!”
She brushed out her hair, then checked the time, 1 hour before school. She put it up in a ponytail and chose clothes. She then put the clothes on, grabbed her phone and rushed downstairs. She checks the time on her phone- 30 minutes? Putting up her hair and getting her clothes on took like 30 minutes? It takes 15 minutes to walk, so she has 15 minutes to plan. She grabs and puts on her choker, and thinks.
“Is the school food good? No. Will I be hungry before lunch? Maybe. Will I be too interested in anything else to go on time? Yes, definitely. Breakfast and lunch prep it is!”
She runs to the kitchen, and makes a PB and j, with a salad, plus a water bottle, and puts it in a lunch box, then checks the time. 10 minutes before she has to go. She pours cereal and eats. Then checks the time, 5 minutes.
“I could leave early, actually yeah I’ll do that.”
She grabs her school bag and leaves the house. She hops on her bike and starts riding to school. She thinks and breathes, and arrives at school 5 minutes early! She looks around, thinking how much she loves the abundant life in the area as she locks up her bike on the bike rack. She walks up to the front doors and waits. She sees people are here already, and more people are showing up. She watches, seeing ANna, who she bonded with over the summer, walking up.
“Hi, Anna!”
“Hey Kat.”
“How are you?”
“Schools starting today”
“I know…”
“So fucking horrible”
“Knew it.”
The bell rang, and everyone rushed inside, Kat and Anna included, and everyone rushed into halls and up floors, it was… a fucking mess. But that's expected. She reached her English 10 classroom and barely managed to sit down before the bell rang. The teacher introduced himself, and started class, like they didn’t just get off a 2-month break, changing grades in the process. Everyone groaned at Mr Hutchinson, making him very angry.
“Oh, you wanna groan?” He asked, “You wanna groan like “We shouldn’t be treated like students in the middle of the year when we just started? WELL FUCK YOU- JANE STOP FUCKING RECORDING!”
Kat would turn in her seat, to a blond girl, Jane she assumed, was recording the yelling. Yeah, you can't exactly say fuck you to students in class, they’re gonna have substitute bullshit. Joy.
Jane calmly responded, “I record lectures so I can play them back. The principal allowed me to do this, if you don't like it, the door’s right there.”
This caused everyone to laugh in the class, but Jane, who was stoic, and the teacher, “JANE SAYMER! TO THE OFFICE, AND IF YOU EVEN FUCKING SNICKERED, GO WITH HER!”
So everyone but the teacher left the class and went to the office, Jane in the front.
“Who sent you all here?” The assistant up there asked, Jane, stopped the recording and showed it to them. The assistant gasped, then said, “Go back to your class” and called Mr Hutchinson to the front office.
The kids walked back into class, happy, and some flipped off Mr Hutchinson as they passed, Kat didn’t, she just wanted to keep her head low as they all re-entered class. Kat pulled out her phone and texted Anna a few things before the class dissolved into absolute chaos. Yeah, to say she wouldn’t want to remember today was already evident.
It felt like mere minutes before her next class, but it was actually an hour and 10 minutes. She moved quickly to Algebra 2, hoping it would be better than English. The teacher was nice but boring. Very very boring. She practically fell asleep during the class, okay she zoned out before the lunch bell rang, and she quickly rushed over to the cafeteria.
Kat sat down and pulled out lunch. She ate alone, due to fear of talking to anyone, the rest of the day was, to her at least, a blur of chaos, until it ended when she left the school. It all seemed to slow down to a normal speed, as she walked over to her bike. Someone was waiting there though…
“Who are you?” Kat yelled, trying to get an answer at least, or maybe to get them to fuck off.
“R-rocky!” The person said, it immediately shook Kat that Rocky would give out their name like that, she walked over to them. Rocky would look at Kat and explain, “I-I just wanted to find someone to guide me home, when I found a bike here, I just waited...”
“Then I’ll be there for you!”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Kat said, “Why would I lie?”
Kat couldn't hear what Rocky mumbled (She mumbled “Guess people are nicer and more trustworthy in the 21st century?”), as she unlocked her bike and started following Rocky. Rocky had a weird satchel, maybe she could look in it with time? Then both heard something, Rocky immediately recoiled.
“Rocky, are you ok?” Kat asked, concerned.
“They… They found me!” That was all she could mutter before a person floated in front of them, and Rocky hid behind Kat.
“So little miss Rochifel found protection?” The person mockingly asked, which… pissed off Kat.
“What the hell do you want? And who the fuck are you?”
“I am Joan. Our goal is to bring the modern world down and make it so our leader can rule!”
“Joan, huh? Well good luck,” Kat said, condescending, “Because I won’t allow you to!” Joan yelled something, Kat couldn’t be bothered to remember what, and the area greyed out, and the scenery became… Tudor-like. Suddenly, a pink orb floated out of Rocky’s satchel, and in front of Kat. It all felt like a dream at that moment, the feeling of the orb in front of her, and a sudden feeling of knowing what to do.
She shouted, “Pretty Cure!” as her outfit popped into linen made of light, and then yelled, “Let's dance!” She danced and the light linen turned into a cute outfit covered in pink, glitter, and cuteness. She landed and her hair changed and was compelled to say something again.
She said, “The girl who won't stop now! Cure Tano!”
“Cure Tano?” The other two said, Rocky sounded hopeful, Joan sounded pissed off. Kat- well Tano- couldn’t be bothered with that, instead what concerned her was that memories that were not hers flooded her mind.
But her worry was shut off almost instantly when Joan screamed, “Kingudorei! Smash them!”
Tano picked up Rocky and tried jumping out of the upcoming fist, jumping way above the town, from her perspective, it looked like a map.
“Erm, Rocky?” She asked, “Should I try kicking the thing?”
“YES?”
“Okay jeez I was asking!” Tano put herself in a kicking position, and barely didn’t hit Joan on her way down, but did hit the monster at least. She put down Rocky, who ran a bit, and punched the monster.
Joan sternly asked, “How are you fighting like you’re-”
“Running out of time- I HAD TO I'M SORRY,” Tano yelled, she wasn’t a history nerd, but by god was the soundtrack of Hamilton catchy
“I was going to ask “like you’ve been like this before”, but now answer both.”
“I’m a weeb, for your question!” She kicked the monster, “And for mine, because,” She punched once, “I,” and again, “AM!” and knocked it out pretty much, as she felt a compulsion to do something again.
“Beheaded’s axe!” She yelled as she summoned an axe? She didn’t mind and grabbed the axe. She used the axe to create a heart in bright pink, then put slashes in it. “Pretty Cure!” She yelled before dragging her unoccupied thumb across her neck, “Heart Cut!” She used the axe to summon mini axes that go around the monster, with a wink and blowing a kiss motion, cutting it to bits. The scenery goes back to normal, Rocky runs back to Tano.
“I’ll get you next time Tano and Rochifel!” Joan yelled before teleporting away.
Rocky breathed, and said, “Thank you, Cure Tano!”
Kat detransformed, “My name is Kat. Although… I don't even know anymore...”
“Wha?”
“When I became Cure Tano… I got the memories of Kathrine Howard…”
“Oh… Are you… Are you her?”
“I’d assume so-”
Rocky hugged Kat, and Kat squirmed at sudden touch. Rocky let go and happily said, “I have to tell Maud!” before going into a portal. Kat waved, and rode her bike home.
It was about 5 pm when she got back, she ate dinner, and went to her room. She opened a tab on her computer, a diary, and started writing today’s events, before starting to cry, at the memories she obtained.
Kat ran to her bed, and put her face in her pillow, trying to forget. The pain of rape, the pain of betrayal, the pain of beheadedment. She cried, trying to let it all out before she drifted off to sleep with the tears.